machinist – FFXIV Guild

If you’ve found yourself here, you’re likely leveling up a Machinist. You’ve found the right place. Hopefully, our Machinist Leveling Guide helps you out – especially with setting up and the early L30+ rotation!

Machinist Leveling Guide Navigation:
Page 1: Unlocking, L30 Skills & Rotation, L30 Gear, Class Quest List
Page 2: Leveling MCH 30 to 50 (Basic info for now)
Page 3: Leveling MCH 50 to 60 (Basic info for now)
Page 4: Leveling MCH 60 to 70 (Basic info for now)

For those who jumped right into this page, we will add a little blurb about unlocking Machinist, if you haven’t already.

Unlocking Machinist (MCH) Job

Quest Name: Savior of Skysteel
Quest Location: Foundation (X:8, Y:10)
NPC Name: Stephanivien

You will be rewarded with the Soul of the Machinist, your main hand weapon (Steel-barreled Carbine), and a free coffer of 30 left side gear (Toadskin Jacket and Toadskin Brais)! Equip them as soon you have them!

Continue doing any and all quests in the chain. You should get the Hotshot skill before proceeding.

Since Machinist starts at level 30 (provided you have a level 50 character), there are a few things you have to “catch up to”… Namely, your Skills, Rotation, and to a lesser extent, Gear.

Fresh Level 30 Machinist Rotation & Skills

Thankfully, there aren’t too many skills unlocked by L30 so you won’t be overwhelmed.

MCH Rotation Summary

The MCH “rotation” or if we can even call it that, is all about bullets, procs, RNG, and frustration.

Reload and Quick Reload add bullets into your gun that “surely” proc your next combo in the chain. If you’re doing it “raw”, your combo is reduced to a chance.

You must be very keen of procs, and maximizing the use of every bullet!

It’s useless to go into detail this early at L30. In the next tabs, we will mention ALL AVAILABLE SKILLS and the context wherein they’re used.

L30 MCH Single Target Rotation

Use Reload (L4) and Quick Reload (L26) as often as possible. Be mindful never to go above 5 bullets.

Is Hotshot (L30) buff up? If no, use Hotshot, if yes, proceed.

Split Shot (L1) Proc or bullet? Proceed. If not, spam Split Shot (L1)
Slug Shot (L2).

If you have Reassemble (L10), use it only on your strongest skill (in this case, Slug Shot with Ammo.

Heartbreak (L6) when the enemy is at low life.

L30 MCH Basic AoE Rotation

L30 MCH AoE Rotation

DO NOT USE YOUR AOE ON 2 TARGETS. A case can be made for using spread shot on 2 guys IF YOU HAVE AMMO – but I don’t think it’s ultimately worth it.

Spread Shot (L18) spam on 3+ targets. Obviously with 4 or more targets, Spread Shot becomes beastly – but be wary of the TP costs.

Remember to still keep Hotshot (L30) up.

L30 MCH Misc (Cooldowns, Utility)

L30 MCH Utility Skills

Reload (L4) and Quick Reload (L26), just a reminder, gives bullets which increase potency on most skills, and ensures proccing the combo chain.

Reassemble (L10) ensures your next weapon skill is a critical strike – always save it for your strongest shot.

Blank (L15) is a decent pushback, you can interrupt skills with it. Careful using it in dungeons – you don’t wanna loosen up piled enemies.

Rapid Fire (L30) speeds up your GCD considerably for 3 skills. Useful in the near future with Wildfire (L30). For now, it’s a generic DPS cooldown.

L30 MCH Role Actions

Long story short a basic solo setup is:
Invigorate > Second Wind > Peloton > Any

For a detailed guide check out our Ranged DPS Role Actions guide.

Fresh level 30 Machinist: Gear Check

The free gear you get from completing the Machinist quest is, ultimately, lacking. You only get a chest and leg armor, while lacking Helm, Belt, Gloves, Boots – and the entire 5 right-side accessories. If you plan to maximize your options in leveling – you wanna shore this up ASAP.

Ignore this section if you’re one of those pure PotD types.

FOR THE ACCESSORIES: Fluorite Tier, OPTIONALLY melded with Heaven’s Eye > Savage Aim > Savage Might. You can meld your other gear, too, if you like.

L30 MCH Basic of the Basic gear
Slot	Item	Note
Weapon	Steel-barreled Carbine	Free from coffer
Head	HQ Steel Sallet	Market board / ARM
Body	Toadskin Jacket	Free from coffer
Hands	HQ Toadskin Armguards	Market board / LTW
Belt	HQ Toadskin Belt	Market board / LTW
Legs	Toadskin Brais	Free from coffer
Boots	HQ Toadskin Leg Guards	Market board / LTW
Earring	HQ Fluorite Earring	Market board / GSM
Neck	HQ Fluorite Choker	Market board / GSM
Wrist	HQ Fluorite Bracelet	Market board / GSM
Ring	HQ Fluorite Ring	Market board / GSM
Ring	HQ Fluorite Ring	Market board / GSM

Machinist Class Quests: Where!?

It happens to everyone, don’t worry. We will be listing the relevant chunks per tier on the respective page of this leveling guide as well, for easy reference.

Machinist Job Quests 30 to 50

LVL	QUEST	LOCATION	COORDS		ISSUER	REWARDS
			X	Y
30	Master of Marksmanship	Outer La Noscea	20	18	Rostnsthal
35	Always the Last Place You Look	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
40	Rook Before You Reap	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
40	Securing the Locks	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
45	A Suppressive Strategy	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
45	Blood on the Sands	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
50	Rage against the Machinists	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
50	The Power of a Tourney	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien	Junior Machinist’s Armor Coffer

Machinist Job Quests 50 to 60

LVL	QUEST	LOCATION	COORDS		ISSUER	REWARDS
			X	Y
50	A Joye-less Celebration	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
52	Pushing the Brume	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
54	A Joye-ful Reunion	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
56	Wheels of Justice	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
58	Taking the Fall	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
58	Rusted Steel	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
60	Rise of the Machinists	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien	Machinist’s Armor Coffer

Machinist Job Quests 60 to 70

LVL	QUEST	LOCATION	COORDS		ISSUER	REWARDS
			X	Y
60	The Machinist’s Choice	Foundation	8	10	Stephanivien
63	The Hrunting Heist	Foundation	12	12	Hilda
65	Release the Hounds	Foundation	12	12	Hilda
68	Snouts Down, Tails Up	Foundation	12	12	Hilda
70	The Mongrel and the Knight	Foundation	12	12	Hilda	Gunner’s Armor Coffer

I’m sure you’re itching to level up – and I hope you took the above preparations to heart! Just continue onwards with the links just above!

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So your 1 key hasn’t worn out yet and you’re back to being a “Robot Sympathizer” which isn’t too popular with the Eorzeans! Thankfully, MCH got some pretty beefy buffs – so GL getting your 3.2 MCH BiS! Thanks to Tiffany Faye for the help!

Quicknotes: Of course, is very similar to BRD BiS. The most glaring difference I can tell you is that SS is absolutely garbage for MCH.

Navigation: Machinist BiS
MCH BiS | Discussion | Lore Buy Order | Crafted TBA

3.2 Machinist Best-in-Slot

MCN	Item	Meld 1	Meld 2	ACC	CRIT	DET	SS
Weapon	Midan Metal Musketoon	CRIT V	CRIT V	-	110	-	123
Offhand	-	-	-
Helm	Midan Goggles of Aiming	DET V	DET V	48	69	24	-
Body	Augmented Torrent Tabard of Aiming	CRIT V	CRIT V	112	24	75	-
Hand	Augmented Torrent Armguards of Aiming	DET V	DET V	48	69	24	-
Belt	Midan Belt of Aiming	DET V	-	-	51	46	-
Legs	Augmented Torrent Tights of Aiming	CRIT V	CRIT V	-	102	-	112
Boots	Augmented Torrent Boots of Aiming	CRIT V	CRIT IV	-	69	66	-
Neck	Midan Neckband of Aiming	DET V	-	36	51	12	-
Earring	Augmented Primal Earrings of Aiming	DET V	-	-	51	46
Wrist	Augmented Primal Bracelet of Aiming	CRIT V	-	51	48	-	-
Ring	Augmented Primal Ring of Aiming	CRIT V	-	-	48	49	-
Ring	Midan Ring of Aiming	CRIT V	-	36	12	-	51
Food	Baked Pipira Pira	-	-	18	37	-	-
Stats	Total stats from gear			349	741	342	286
	End value			703	1095	560	640

only making short discussions to update all BiS quickly

MCH BiS Discussion

640 SS? What gives, man!? Well, SS is locked in 3 key pieces of gear

100+ from 245 Weapon (Silly not to use this)
100+ from Legs (Other legs are ACC DET and no crit…)
50+ from Ring (Un-upgraded ring is OK, but lose too much ACC!)

So with that, we’re stuck. You may not like it, but we HAVE NO CHOICE.

Why not use Midan Body? It has CRIT! Well, there’s this other stat that’s slightly more important that Crit sometimes – it’s called ACCURACY. The 50~ Crit lost from body more than makes up for the tons of accuracy WE ACTUALLY NEED. It’s just a 50~ point loss, shh bby is ok.

Frontal Accuracy? This set is 20 points away from Frontal ACC cap. If you find yourself needing it, simply replace 1 (2 max) DET melds for ACC.

Technically, you can swap the body and legs, as both of those slots have mirrored stats. This BiS just assumes everyone will get the legs sooner than the body. Just tossin’ that out there… meaning:

Choosing Midan Body + Midan Legs (saves lore)
Choosing Lore Body + Lore Legs (Earlier BiS power spike to beat A7/8)

If your MCH is an alt you may consider the Midan option.

It is as of yet confirmed if Piety increases your worship levels and boosts proc chance. If that’s the case you can check WHM… (This is a joke, k).

MCH Lore Tomestone Buy Order

The below spending strategy is purely to obtain BiS fastest:

Weapon: Not bad so why not? You’ll have to buy this at some point, man.
Body: By order of Midan counterpart…
Legs: By order of Midan counterpart…
Hands: This before boots since the stats are way better.
Boots: Yep… “That’s a lot of Lore, MAN!!!!”
Ring > Wrist > Earring in that order of value.

ANYTHING ELSE IS OPTIONAL: left-side fillers should be prioritized (Head > Belt), then accessories Neck > Ring(Unupgraded).

USING UP PAGES AND MIDAS NORMAL PARTS

Click on the expandables below to see how you should spend pages, and which Midas Normal parts to get first –

Midan Savage Pages

MIDAN SAVAGE PAGES

The below spending method is for getting BiS fastest:

A5S: Belt > Ring > Neck > Any
A6S: Head > Illuminati Dark Gobcoat x 3 > Any
A7S: Illuminati Taut Gobtwine x 4 > Any
A8S: Weapon > Any (Gobdip then just wait for Gun is fine…)

B-but Mahiko Senpai, the piece I bought dropped the next week! Don’t blame me. Blame yourself, or God. Not “God Mahiko”, just God. Or yourself.

Midan Normal Parts

MIDAN NORMAL PARTS

“what should MCH’s pick up in Midas normal”! Is a common question, so here it is! This is a general thing, and people might have varying levels of gear or goals but as a catch-all good enough recommendation:

MCH	M1N	M2N	M3N	M4N
Week 1	chain	bolt	spring	spring
Week 2	pedal	pedal	spring	spring
Week 3	bolt	lens	crank	crank
Week 4	bolt	bolt	lens	ANY

So we’re avoiding body here since we’re picking up lore ASAP. Every other body piece is pure value and will serve you as far as A8S! The stats are surprisingly great. BOLTS = Ring > Neck > Any. Week 5+ ANY.

Click the above!!!

MCH Crafted Gear Viability

I’ll be updating this in the second pass just so I can finish more BiS pages asap. 90% of the info you’ll need is already here, though.